The beauty have been faded. Perhaps, that is the perfect sentences we could use to describe phenomenon which happened these days. Mother nature is not as powerful as before compares to sophistication of human technology, which not only bring benefit, but also bring a massive destruction – exactly like the two side of a coin. Although, a lot of people have done as best as they could to stop this catastrophe, yet – still, there are people who would never understand and value our magnificent nature.

Although, we should be the protector, yet turn out we’ve become the destroyer day by day. Shoot anything we want, skin any skin we want, kill anything we want – without thinking the consequences of the act. That is exactly what happened to all the wild animal in the wildlife, in this period of time. Did you ever think, the animals – that we regularly seen in the zoo since our childhood, now have been classified as a rare and even extinct? The thick skin rhinos, the elephants, all those animals have been push to the edge of extinction?

I have to admit, no, I never thought about it. But, yes, that’s what happened now. Even the popular animals cities which we knew as the bases of the large sources of the wildlife, let’s take examples, such: South Africa, Amazon, Iceland – we thought would always be there forever after, till’ we die – now, tragically, have been driven to the human mess-madness. No safe habitat for those animals anymore. Tiger and lion habitat, every place is vulnerable.

To be fair, I’m not saying that all those destructions was a hundred percent human error, there’s another cause like climate changes that eroded the icy habitat of polar bear in Arctic, and other causes – but, fairly enough, human are the biggest contributor of this phenomenon. However, today we’re going to learn: what are the differences between rare animal and extinct animal? How we could make the differences between both of them? If you question these things, you should absolutely check this out!

Rare Animal

The definition of rare animal is a group of organism that infrequently encountered, scarce, only few numbers, and unique uncommon animals. Furthermore, the designation of rare animal also only could be make from official body, such state, national government, and province, even the IUCN couldn’t make the designation like this. The term of rare animal is distinct from endangered or threaten species, which is a lot of time being connected.

Even though rare animal only spread out in few numbers in the whole wide world, doesn’t mean that these rare animal are in danger. The IUCN classified the rare animal as small world population of species which is at the risk, not at present endangered and vulnerable. In other words, rare animal was created by nature with a small populations. This term also could be use when at some places, some species are quite common but in other places they were rare.

The rarity of species ordinarily define by the numbers of animals which is commonly below the numbers of ten thousand world-wide. These rare animal was influenced by the narrow fragmented habitat and endemic, the researcher have been reviled that approximate about seventy-five percent of species outcome as rare species. If a species might be in the term of endangered and vulnerable, but the numbers are considerably large, the species does not count as a rare species. But, rare species do considered as the threatened because the few naturally numbers of populations.

The Examples of Rare Animal’ Species Around the World

There are some species around the world that entitled with rare species, that could still be found these days:

The giant panda: population number about 1,000 to 3,000; status vulnerable; placed in China.
Wild bactrian camel: population number about 950 left; status critically endangered; placed in Kazakhstan, Northwest China, and Southern Mongolia.
California condor: population number about 446 world-wide; status critically endangered; placed in west north America.
Black softshell turtle: population number about 150 – 300 world-wide; status extinct in the wild; placed in Sultan Bayazid Bastami shrine at Chittagong.
Alagoas curassow: population number about 130 (in captivity); status extinct in the wild; placed in north east Brazil.
Gobi bear: population number about 22 world-wide; status critically endangered; placed in Gobi desert in Mongolia.

Extinct Animal

The extinction is generally described the death of last individual, and the lost of capability to breeding and recover from particular species. Has been speculated that more than ninety-nine percent of species which approximate about five billion species has died and gone from the earth. Research in 2016 reviled approximate about one trillion species ever lived on earth which only one percent of it (which mean about one thousandth) described.

The superiority competition through the evolution process forced those species to survive, and compete with new species that arise, which in the case, if the species no longer able to survive with the environment surround them (ecological niches), the result would be extinction. The fact is, from its first appearance, a typical species are extinct in 10 millions years – only species called living fossils could survive without any morphological change within hundreds of millions or years.

In the ecology version, the extinction is formally used to local extinction, which mean a species could be ceases to exist at certain areas, but still exist in elsewhere. There are causes that forced these animals to extinction:

Phenomenon of Demographic and Genetic

The population would be extinct when the increasing of populations slower than environmental degradation, plus the occurrence of deleterious on mutations on the species. The extinction factors also effected by others contributors, such evolvability, robustness, phenotypic plasticity, cryptic genetic variation, and balancing selection.

Habitat Degradation

The main anthropogenic reason of the extinction was habitat degradation. Agriculture, mining, logging, and urban sprawl was impact to the phenomenon. This degradation would dis-functional the ability of species to survive which is all the process happened in their habitat. Lack of resources diminished the species ability to compete effectively against their new competitors. That is why a lot of movement these days from the naturalist, and sympathism to prevent the land expansion which generally would slash out the woods and wild-nature.

The Examples of Extinct Animal’s Species

The last but not least from: what are the differences between rare animal and extinct animal? – are the examples of extinct animal recently was:

West African black rhinoceros, the last appearance of black rhinoceros was in 2006, and official declaration of extinction was in 2011.
Pyrenean ibex, sadly the last pyrenean was killed by falling three in Spain in 2000.
Wondiwoi tree-kangaroo, official declaration of extinction was in 2018, by the IUCN.
Caribbean monk seal, official declaration of extinction was in 2008.